
Deported Cuban mother separated from breastfeeding 1-year-old daughter, World News
HAVANA — Cuban mother Heidy Sanchez collapsed into tears as she recalled the moment last week when US immigration officials in Florida told her she would be deported and separated from her still-breastfeeding 1-year-old daughter.
"They told me to call my husband, that our daughter had to stay and that I would go," she told Reuters in an interview at a family member's home near the Cuban capital, Havana. "My daughter got nervous and agitated and began to ask for milk, but it didn't matter to them."
The US Department of Homeland Security told Reuters that Sanchez' statement was inaccurate and contradicted standard Immigration and Customs Enforcement protocol.
"Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with someone the parent designates," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed response late on Monday (April 28).
"In this case, the parent stated they wanted to be removed without the child and left the child in the care of a safe relative in the United States."
DHS did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for evidence that Sanchez had been offered the choice to take her child with her to Cuba.
Sanchez said she arrived in her home country hours after being detained, with no passport or identification and no documentation from the United States explaining the reason for her deportation.
The contradictions in Sanchez' case highlight concerns among civil rights advocates over the due process rights of immigrants during US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, a key platform of his 2024 election campaign.
Trump's administration on Monday touted the early results of the aggressive enforcement measures, highlighting a drop in illegal border crossings.
Democrats and civil rights advocates, however, have criticised his administration's tactics, including the cases of several US-citizen children recently deported with their parents. One of the children had a rare form of cancer, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Unlike those cases, Sanchez, who was surprised at a routine check-in at an ICE office in Tampa last Thursday, said she was given no choice but to leave behind her daughter, a US citizen.
She said officials separated her from her child, escorted her to a van, handcuffed her and later that day, deported her by air to Cuba alongside 81 others.
Sanchez, 44, had been under deportation orders since 2019 but was allowed to temporarily live and work in the United States as long as she regularly checked in with ICE.
During that time, she married a Cuban-born naturalised US citizen and had her first child in November of 2023.
Her husband sought legal residence in the US for Sanchez two years ago as a result of their marriage, but had yet to receive a response, she said.
Sanchez broke down several times during the interview with Reuters. She said she understood that ICE officials were "just doing their job" but said separating a mother from her breastfeeding infant was "unjust."
"I can't sleep, I can't rest," she said. "All I ask is that they reunite me again with my daughter."
The case underscores a sharp break in policy between the Trump and Biden administrations.
Under Biden, ICE officials were instructed to consider the impact of enforcement action on families.
Trump rescinded that guidance, which had prioritised the deportations of serious criminals. Instead, Trump broadened the scope of enforcement, including targeting migrants like Sanchez with standing deportation orders.
Sanchez, who said she had no criminal record, is now just a few hundred miles from her daughter in Florida but a world apart.
Worsening shortages of food, fuel and medicine on the communist-run island, just 90 miles (145 km) off Key West, have made life unbearable for many Cubans.
The crisis has spurred a record-breaking exodus from the island of over one million people, or upwards of 10 per cent off the population, a predicament Cuba blames on US sanctions that contribute to strangling an already inefficient state-run economy.
Sanchez said she now faced the "impossible" decision to remain apart from her infant daughter or bringing her to crisis-racked Cuba.
"Everybody knows the situation here," she said.
[[nid:717278]]
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Finland summons Russian diplomat over second airspace violation in weeks
HELSINKI - Finland's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it had summoned a Russian diplomat over a suspected June 10 violation of Finnish airspace, the second such event in under three weeks. NATO member Finland on Tuesday said it believed a Russian military aircraft entered its airspace off the coast of Porvoo in the southern part of the country, and that the Finnish Border Guard was investigating the incident. "The foreign ministry has invited Russia's acting head of mission to speak on the issue today," the Finnish ministry said in a statement to Reuters. Russia's embassy in Helsinki did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by Reuters. Finland summoned Russia's ambassador on May 26 over an incident in the same area involving two military aircraft. The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, with the NATO alliance boosting its presence in the area with frigates, aircraft and naval drones. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Russia says it is ready to remove excess nuclear materials from Iran
MOSCOW - Russia said on Wednesday it was ready to remove nuclear materials from Iran and convert them into fuel as a potential way to help narrow differences between the United States and Iran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme. Tehran says it has the right to peaceful nuclear power, but its swiftly-advancing uranium enrichment programme has raised fears in the West and across the Gulf that it wants to build a nuclear weapon. The fate of Iran's uranium enrichment is at the heart of the disagreement between Washington and Tehran: U.S. President Donald Trump says that Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran cannot abandon enrichment. President Vladimir Putin told Trump in a phone call that he was ready to use Russia's close partnership with Iran to help with negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme, the Kremlin said last week. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees arms control and U.S. relations, told Russian media on Wednesday that efforts to reach a solution should be redoubled and that Moscow was willing to help with ideas and in practical ways. "We are ready to provide assistance to both Washington and Tehran, not only politically, not only in the form of ideas that could be of use in the negotiation process, but also practically: for example, through the export of excess nuclear material produced by Iran and its subsequent adaptation to the production of fuel for reactors," Ryabkov said. The United States wants all of Iran's highly enriched uranium (HEU) to be shipped out of the country. Tehran says it should only send out any excess amount above a ceiling that was agreed in a 2015 deal. Russia, the world's biggest nuclear power, does not want to see Iran acquire nuclear weapons, but believes it has every right to develop its own civilian nuclear programme and that any use of military force against it would be illegal and unacceptable. Moscow has bought weapons from Iran for its war in Ukraine and signed a 20-year strategic partnership deal with Tehran earlier this year. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Musk says some of his posts about Trump ‘went too far'
[WASHINGTON] Billionaire businessman Elon Musk said on Wednesday (Jun 11) he regretted some of the posts he made last week about US President Donald Trump as they had gone 'too far'. Trump said on Saturday his relationship with Musk was over after they exchanged insults on social media, with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO describing the president's sweeping tax and spending Bill as a 'disgusting abomination.' Musk has since deleted some posts critical of Trump, including one signalling support for impeaching the president, and sources close to the world's richest man say his anger has started to subside and he may want to repair the relationship. 'I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far,' Musk wrote in a post on his social media platform X on Wednesday, without saying which specific posts he was talking about. Tesla shares in Frankfurt rose 2.7 per cent after Musk's post. Musk bankrolled a large part of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, spending nearly US$300 million in last year's US elections and taking credit for Republicans retaining a majority of seats in the House and retaking a majority in the Senate. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Trump then named him to head an effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending. Musk left the role late last month after criticising Trump's marquee tax Bill, calling it too expensive and a measure that would undermine his work at the Department of government Efficiency. Declaring their relationship over on Saturday, Trump said there would be 'serious consequences' if Musk decided to fund US Democrats running against Republicans who vote for the tax and spending bill. Trump also said he had no intention of repairing ties with Musk. On Monday, Trump said he would not have a problem if Musk called and that he had no plans to discontinue the Starlink satellite Internet provided to the White House by Musk's SpaceX but might move his Tesla off-site. 'We had a good relationship, and I just wish him well,' Trump said. Musk responded with a heart emoji to a video on X showing Trump's remarks. REUTERS